New criminology courses prepare students for a changing justice landscape

May 2026

By Claire Huggins

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Earlier this year, the Home Secretary set out radical reforms to policing with wide-reaching impact; our four new degree courses pre-empt the needs of an evolving justice system.

Devised and developed by senior lecturer and former Detective Sergeant, Scott Banks, the courses will help students not just understand how the justice system works but, crucially, provide the critical insight needed to assess its impact on individuals, organisations and communities, in the UK and abroad.

Starting September 2026, students can now apply for:

Scott Banks

With over a decade of experience in the police service, Scott has an intrinsic understanding of the ethical, practical and analytical skills demanded by employers; all four courses have victim-focused perspectives, real-life scenarios and professional skills embedded in every module.

“The reality is that the landscape and the nature of the justice system in this country are changing rapidly,” explains Scott.

“The courses we offer address these changes by equipping students with the skills they need, for example, critical thinking, problem solving, communication and leadership. All highly transferable and desirable skills developed against a backdrop of real-world scenarios.”

In a deliberate move away from the traditional academic course structure, Scott has drawn on his experience of the system and the people within it to create an integrative curriculum, that aims to meet the expectations and needs of a wide range of criminal justice services and stakeholders.

Critical perspectives, such as race or gender, are embedded throughout the course to support deeper exploration and better understanding of key topics.

“Whatever the critical perspective might be, students are encouraged to apply that to the current module,” said Scott.

“For example, we could be exploring the victim’s experience of interacting with the criminal justice system - we’d look at the fundamentals of that, but then the encouragement and expectation is there for the students to bring their own lived experience into that work.”

“How they identify, where they are from, how old they are - these are just some of the things that shape how a person interacts with the criminal justice system, and we can all benefit from being exposed to these accounts.”

"I want these courses to be student-led. It will be a safe space to adapt module content, mould it, break it and fit it to their experiences. I’m excited to see what they bring to the table"

Scott Banks Senior lecturer in criminology

The courses also offer students the chance to enhance their research and data analysis skills, as well as to harness media such as vlogs and podcasts, to contribute to their assessments while simultaneously developing their digital portfolio.

“I want these courses to be student-led,” Scott adds.

“I will be teaching these topics quite differently, with a view to presenting ideas, concepts and processes to students and seeing what they do with them.”

“It will be a safe space for them to adapt module content, mould it, break it and fit it to their experiences. I’m excited to see what they bring to the table.”

Keen to refute the perception that criminology is only relevant to the traditional criminal justice system, Scott has included new and emerging areas of concern around social harms (zemiology); students can expect to be challenged as they seek answers to questions about what constitutes a crime and discuss areas that expand the definitions of crime and criminology.

The courses also align with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, focusing on ‘Quality Education’, ‘Sustainable Cities and Communities’, and ‘Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions’.

“The nature of criminology is changing, and these courses expect students to be curious, to want to test and challenge the prevailing narratives around crime,” concludes Scott.

Whether or not the government’s proposed reforms come into force, University College Birmingham’s criminology graduates will be globally aware, ethically grounded and digitally confident - ready to contribute to fields including probation, youth justice, victim support, charity and NGOs, and local government.

Find out more about our criminology courses here.